Michigan women’s basketball coach Kevin Borseth said his top priority for his second season would be building a culture of success.

“We don’t have any tradition,” Borseth said at Big Ten Media Day in October. “And we need to build that tradition to really succeed as a program. You don’t just get that overnight.”

In the past week, Borseth's team took the first steps toward building that culture.

Beat a ranked opponent.

The Wolverines upset No. 13 Vanderbilt 50-42 Nov. 23. The last time Michigan downed a ranked team was Feb. 29, 2004, when it defeated then-No. 12 Minnesota.

Win its first tournament in eight seasons.

Michigan (4-2) took the crown this weekend at the Lady Eagle Classic in Hattiesburg, Miss. The Wolverines beat a talented Belmont squad 64-60 Friday and host Southern Mississippi, 61-51, the following night.

It was unusual that the team’s tournament title came against Southern Mississippi, the same team the Wolverines dominated last season to vault them into the third round of the NIT.

Despite his team’s recent achievements, Borseth isn't ready to call the development complete.

“You can’t really throw around words like tradition, even if we won our first tournament,” Borseth said. “We can’t hang our hats on little things like this.”

The Wolverines came out with confidence Saturday against Southern Mississippi (3-3) after beating Belmont (3-2) the previous night gave them their first winning streak of the season.

Led by senior point guard Jessica Minnfield’s 23 points, Michigan blew the game open after Southern Mississippi kept it close for the first 15 minutes. But Minnfield closed the first half with the final nine Wolverine points to give Michigan a seven-point lead heading into halftime.

The second half was more of the same for Michigan, as Minnfield cashed in on open shot opportunities to net 14 of her 23 points. Her clear looks came off Borseth’s philosophy that emphasizes driving into the lane and kicking the ball out for the open jump shot.

Southern Mississippi closed the gap to two before Minnfield hit a three-pointer and helped the Wolverines pull ahead for good. Her performance was reminiscent of her game-high 13 points last season against the Eagles in the NIT.

“She’s been around long enough that we feel comfortable leaning on her for a lot,” Borseth said. “She’s making shots, and that’s got her looking more confident as our point guard.”

But Minnfield wasn’t the only one to dominate the Eagles for the second year in a row.

Senior forward Stephany Skrba scored a career-high 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. She had 13 points last season.

Her scoring presence in the post was something Borseth had been looking for all season.

“She’s someone I can count on in the post,” Minnfield said. “She’s been making things happen whenever I put the ball in her hands.”

Borseth said great performances like Skrba's are few and far between for post players in the Big Ten.

“The more you score around that basket, the more you get beat up,” Borseth said. “It’s tough to deal with the shoving and fighting for the hoop down low. She had success this weekend, but to continue that is going to be pretty difficult.”

On Friday against Belmont, the Wolverines waited until the final seconds to close out the game.

Trailing most of the game, Belmont went on a 9-0 run to cut the Wolverines’ lead to one with 13 seconds on the clock.

But Minnfield hit two clutch free throws to secure the win.

The Wolverines will hope to use the momentum from their first tournament win as they embark on a long road swing in the next week that includes matchups with USC and Duke.

It’s a trip Borseth referred to as “the gauntlet.”

“We have to conduct business on our time and keep up that momentum if we want to succeed like we did this weekend,” Borseth said. “That’s our style. That’s how we’re going to win.”